Year after year, faithful President's Associates make a critical difference at the University, from providing scholarships to learning facilities to faculty enrichment.
President's Associates make a $1,000 annual gift ($500 annually for Young Associates, age 39 and younger), half of which can be restricted to the program or department of your choice.
Benefits of membership include:
- Invitations to dinners hosted by the President featuring national and international dignitaries
- Participation in regional special events
- Discounts for Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course memberships
- Guest parking permits for the Norman campus
- Invitations to pre-game football activities, featuring the special OU-TX game brunch and escorted bus ride to the Cotton Bowl.
Student Scholarships
Privately funded scholarships can make a profound difference in the lives of our students. Scholarships can help students stay at OU and graduate with a minimum of student loan debt. Alumni and friends can designate scholarship gifts for students in a particular school or college, or they may ask that the scholarship is awarded where it is needed most.
Funding levels for scholarships can vary widely and include:
Annual Scholarships: Donors can fund a named annual scholarship by making gifts as low as $1,000 each year.
Endowed Scholarships: Donors can create a lasting, named scholarship endowment with a gift of $20,000 or greater. Only endowment earnings are spent, ensuring that the principal remains intact. The current spending policy for the OU Foundation provides a five percent payout, so a fund of $20,000 will generate $1,000 a year.
Graduate Fellowships
High-caliber graduate programs and a deep, talented pool of graduate students enhance our overall educational environment. Graduate students impact undergraduate education through meaningful mentoring and by supporting our faculty in both laboratories and classrooms. While the quality of graduate programs is certainly a key factor in recruiting top graduate students, it is the availability of competitive stipends that, to a large degree, determines the graduate program’s success.
Privately funded graduate fellowships provide OU with resources to recruit and retain the type of outstanding graduate students who strengthen our teaching and research activities. Every College Department could be significantly strengthened by these fellowships, which can be funded with annual gifts of at least $5,000 or endowment gifts of at least $100,000.
Study Abroad Scholarships
Today’s college student must prepare to work and live in an increasingly global environment, and few experiences enhance that preparation more profoundly than a study abroad experience. Not only do study abroad students learn about the world, they learn about themselves, gaining priceless knowledge, confidence, and insight.
With increasing costs for airfare and the performance of the dollar internationally, these opportunities are increasingly becoming out of reach for OU students. Donors can make a significant difference in the lives of students who seek Study Abroad experiences by funding Annual Scholarships of $2,500, which would help pay for airfare and other special expenses in studying out of the country. Donors wishing to endow a Study Abroad Scholarship can make a gift of $50,000 over five years, which will generate about $2,500 in interest each year. We are currently working with the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, and Puerto Rico to add a study abroad location.
When Former President Boren came to the University of Oklahoma in 1994, faculty excellence was a priority concern. How could we retain our best and brightest professors? How could we attract the quality of faculty who would be great educators and researchers? One answer was through faculty support. This program has made a real difference in faculty morale and compensation because it truly rewards merit. A gift of any size will make a significant difference and help us retain and recruit the best faculty available. Gifts can be made over five years and also be program specific.
Endowed faculty and chair positions allow OU to recruit and retain highly regarded teachers and researchers – the kind of individuals who can take existing programs to a new level. In many cases, these faculty members are catalysts to draw other outstanding faculty, additional research dollars, top graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.
Additionally, donors can endow a Presidential Professorship in their names or as designated with a gift of at least $200,000. The Presidential Professorship Program is one of Former President Boren’s cornerstone initiatives to recognize and reward top faculty members. Four-year stipends of $5,000 are awarded to assistant and associate professors, and $10,000 for full professors. Nominees are chosen in a highly competitive process.
Scholarships for ALL departments may be designated to the College or to a specific department/fund. Along with the University, the College of Allied Health has identified increasing scholarship support as the #1 priority this year.
Scholarship aid has a profound impact on both the development of the scholarship recipients and the College. Support allows students to focus on their studies and enables the College to attract and retain the most talented students. Many alumni have become involved, meaning more scholarships for our deserving students!
The College has a 99% job placement rate and a 95% professional entry board pass rate, which is among the best in the country. Allied Health professions comprise two-thirds of the entire health care workforce. It is crucial the College continues to attract the best students in this ever-increasing demand for qualified health care workers. Scholarships and a new building are exceptional tools allowing the College to recruit, maintain, and teach future health professionals.
Building enhancements and instructional technology for classrooms, laboratories, and other study areas. Distance Education is extremely important as the College continues to grow in Tulsa. Students on both campuses must have a means for communication with each other. The cost of the technology is extremely expensive; however being able to teach more students is priceless.
Making the building a comfortable place where students can learn and study is important to making this structure a meaningful investment.
Each and every gift combines to make a big impact on what the College can provide in the building. It does not take many gifts to provide another learning station.
The Dean’s Excellence Fund supports the area of greatest need at the College and is the best way to make an impact where it is needed most.
Gifts go to work almost immediately, so you can know that students are reaping the benefits of your support.
Research Fellowships allow the College to support exceptional research opportunities. When students gain hands-on experience while in college, they are more competitive for jobs after graduation. Hands-on experience prepares to students embark upon their professional careers.
The University of Oklahoma College of Allied Health was housed in one of the oldest buildings on the OU Health Sciences Center campus. The 1928 building, a hand-me-down facility from the College of Medicine, could no longer keep pace in accommodating technology or enrollment with the programs it housed. A 21st-Century facility was required by the 21st-Century sciences practiced in the Allied Health programs of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy; Communication Sciences and Disorders; Medical Imaging and Radiologic Sciences; and Nutritional Sciences and Allied Health Sciences.
To address the need, the OU Board of Regents approved the planning and construction of a new, high-tech, 114,000-gross-square-foot building- which opened fall of 2008. The new facility houses student areas, classrooms and class laboratories, distance education and computer facilities, clinical and research space, the Lee Mitchener Tolbert Center; the John W. Keys Speech and Hearing Center; children’s hearing impaired day-care laboratory, faculty and staff offices, building support spaces, and multi-purpose space to provide the best possible environment for learning for the College’s undergraduate and graduate student population. Cost for planning and construction of the building was approximately $26 million.
Benches and brick pavers are located on the north and south sides under the colonnades. Surrounding the building with views of the entire HSC Campus, these areas are a perfect spot for our students to relax and study outside during the pleasant Oklahoma days. With shady spaces to sit and visit, this enclosed space promises to be a favorite gathering spot for game day weekends and other campus events. These areas show off the pride and involvement of the OUHSC College of Allied Health alumni community. With a gift of $100, your name- or that of a loved one- will be engraved on a brick paver and placed under the colonnades, leaving a permanent reminder of your experience at the College of Allied Health, and paving the way for future allied health generations!